40
NELSON GOVERNMENT GAZETTE.

out in the passage of the measure through Parliament.
By the correspondence upon the subject which will be
laid before you, you will see that I have pointed out to
the Colonial Government the "injustice of excluding
persons already resident in the colony from facilities in
obtaining possession of land, reserving those facilities
for the exclusive benefit of immigrants introduced at
the public expense, to which the very persons so ex-
cluded are called upon to contribute" and have urged
upon them the propriety of allowing the land to be
thrown open in the manner contemplated by the Go-
vernment and Council of the province unless they are
advised that the law absolutely prohibits them from
doing so. The subject is still under the consideration
of the Colonial Government, but I trust to have a reply
before your present session is closed, and in the event
of the decision of the Government proving to be unfa-
vourable in this respect, I propose to submit to your
deliberation whether it will not be desirable to
abandon the project of forming special settlements
until the permits of its being carried out upon an
equitable footing.

3. Representations having been made to me by the
   holders of agricultural leases under the Goldfields Act
   of the disadvantageous position in which they are
   placed in comparison with lessees under the Crown
   Lands Leasing Acts, I propose to submit to you a
   resolution in favor of an amendment of the Goldfields
   Act providing that holders of agricultural leases shall
   be entitled to a second term of seven years at the same
   rent, and, at its expiration, to a Crown Grant without
   further payment. I have reason to believe that by
   this concession, should you agree to it, not only would
   a cause of reasonable complaint be removed, but a con-
   siderable impetus would be given to the permanent
   settlement of the country. A return laid upon the
   table of the House of Representatives during the last
   session of Parliament affords us the means of com-
   paring our own progress in this respect with that of
   our neighbors. The number of agricultural leases issued
   upon the Nelson Goldfields up to the 31st March 1872,
   was 172, comprising 4447 acres; in the County of
   Westland the number at the same date was 17, com-
   prising 157 acres. The number of goldmining leases
   shows a similar contrast, those issued in Nelson being
   196 comprising 1435 acres against 14 comprising 90
   acres in the County of Westland. The return for
   the twelve months just ended will show that the
   number of agricultural leases granted in this province
   and the area comprised in them, now amount to
   nearly double the figures above quoted, and that nearly
   the same result has been attained with respect to leases
   of land for gold mining.

4. Finding that the state of the revenue would not
   justify me in constructing the proposed wooden
   tramway from the Brunner Coal mine to the port of
   Cobden, I made application on 2nd July last to the
   Colonial Government for an advance of the sum re-
   quired from the funds placed at their disposal for such
   purposes by the Immigration and Public Works Act,

5. The Government declined to make the advance
   upon grounds which appear in the correspondence
   on the subject, from which you will also learn that a
   difference of opinion arose between the Colonial
   Government and myself as to the amount to be secured
   upon the property of this province on account of the

construction of the railway from Brunnerton to the
mouth—the Government requiring security for the
estimated cost of the line, namely, £54,400, but ulti-
mately consenting to accept security for £27,200, or
one half of the amount—the negotiation resulting
therefore in reducing the liability of this province by
the sum of £27,200 from the amount originally
demanded.

5. The support which I have always received from
   you towards promoting the construction of a narrow
   gauge railway through the heart of the province
   from Nelson to the Grey, encourages me to bring
   the question again under your notice with the
   more hopeful conditions of a unanimous public opinion
   in its favor in this part of the province at all events,
   and with the promise under specified conditions of
   material support and assistance from the Colonial
   Government.

For several months past a large and influential
committee has been at work collecting and condensing
the large amount of information upon the subject
existing in the records of your proceedings and other
public documents, and in obtaining much new and
important evidence bearing more especially upon the
probable cost of the work.

These labors have resulted in an able and exhaustive
report upon the whole subject, and in the passing of
certain resolutions founded upon it by a large and
unanimous public meeting.

A deputation from the committee has also waited
upon the Colonial Government and obtained from
them a promise of support and assistance under the
conditions specified in the correspondence, copies of
which, as well as of the documents referred to in
the preceding paragraphs, will be placed in your
hands.

As the powers which I obtained from the General
Assembly some years since, with your sanction, autho-
rising the Governor to grant land in consideration of
the construction of the line, to an extent not exceed-
ing ten thousand acres per mile, are still in operation,
I am not aware that any further action on your part
will be required in that respect, but resolutions
authorising me to lease to a company undertaking the
formation of the through line, those portions about
to be constructed by the Colonial Government be-
tween Brunnerton and Greymouth, and Nelson and
Foxhill, and handed over to the province when
completed—requesting the Waste Lands Board to
grant to the company a lease of the Brunner coalmine
—and authorising me to pay the cost of a working
survey of the line from provincial funds, will be sub-
mitted to you.

I may remind you that the survey made by Mr.
Wrigg in 1868, although a careful and trustworthy
one so far as it goes, is of a preliminary character only,
and requires to be supplemented by much fuller details
before contracts for actual work could be entered
into.

The proposal of the Colonial Government that the
line should be extended from the Ahaura to join the
north Canterbury line at the Hurunui—a distance of
about eighty miles—is one to which I am confident
you will gladly accede, not only on account of the
assistance from Colonial funds, of which it is the con-
dition, but still more on account of the Colonial